8-Day German Fairy Tale Rail Circle Tour (8R07)

It only takes 11 minutes from the Airport local train station located below baggage claim in arrival Hall 1 of Frankfurt International Airport (FRA) to Frankfurt Central Station. The fare is covered by the “Frankfurt Card” which is already included in the price of the tour package.  Your hotel is located in short walking distance of Frankfurt Central Station. Frankfurt is a very modern metropolis which nevertheless offers many historic sites such as the Romerberg (hill of the Romans) with its beautifully restored timber-framed houses, of course the Goethe Haus where the world famous poet once lived, the Paulskirche, symbol for democracy and freedom in Germany, “Alt-Sachsenhausen“, where in Schellgasse number 6 you will find Frankfurt’s oldest timber-framed house which was built around 1291, to name only a few of Frankfurt’s historic landmarks.

The Frankfurt museum riverbank is one of the most important locations for museums in Germany and Europe. The exhibition buildings are lined up on both sides of the Main riverbank, several famous museums are to be found in the city centre. Visit the “Stadel“, the German Museum of Architecture as well as the Museum of Applied Art or the “Schirn Kunsthalle” to name only a very few. Don’t miss out on Frankfurt’s “Zeil“, a huge pedestrian zone where shopping is the name of the game. So, if you arrive early enough in Frankfurt, visiting this interesting metropolis is certainly worthwhile.

Today you will visit places where the Grimm Brothers were born and grew up: Hanau, Steinau an der Strasse and Gelnhausen. On Hanau’s market square one can see the monument reminding us of the two famous brothers. The monument stands right in front of the “Neustadter Rathaus” (Neustadter Town Hall) with its attractive sandstone façade. You may want to take a look at the “Deutsche Goldschmiedehaus” (German Goldsmith House) which is now a museum showing the tradition of the goldsmiths in Hanau. Also Castle Philippsruhe, located within the lovely historic park “Wilhelmsbad” and the Marienkirche (Marienchurch), its sanctuary is the city’s oldest preserved building, are worth visiting.

In Gelnhausen´s  Old Town you may want to visit the ruins of an imperial fortress which was used by Emperor Barbarossa as well as the witch tower, built in the middle of the 15th century as a turret.It was also used as a dungeon for those unfortunate ones accused of being witches. Yet another short drive takes you to the Brothers Grimm city of Steinau an der Strasse. The Brothers Grimm lived here for seven years during their childhood. The Amtshaus (office house) where they lived was already 200 years old when they moved here in 1791. Visit the picturesque Old Town of Steinau an der Strasse and see where the Grimm Brothers lived. At your convenience take the train back to Frankfurt where your hotel is located.

Today the train will take you in around one hour to the city of Marburg, idyllically located on the river “Lahn”. Right at the station are lockers for your baggage available so you can store your luggage there.
Here in Marburg the Brothers Grimm studied law. In their free time they started researching folk-literature, writing down several traditional fairy tales which until then had not been recorded in written form. Marburg’s historic Old Town, called Oberstadt (“Upper town”) will enchant you with narrow alleys, historic buildings and the charm of times long ago.
Visit the impressive Landgrafenschloss (“Landgrave castle“), which gave the town its name, dating back to the 10th century.

The Elisabethkirche (“The Church of St. Elizabeth”), build 1235-1283, is the oldest pure gothic church in Germany, it was erected above the grave of the Holy Elisabeth. Until the 16th century, the church was one of the most famous occidental places of pilgrimage.  Otto Ubbelohde, the painter who illustrated the Grimm’s fairy tales, used many motifs of the Marburger Land (“Marburg´s countryside”), which are easily recognizable once you have visited this charming town.

In the late afternoon a train will take you to Kassel, the heart of the Fairy Tale route. Travel time is about an hours. Here in Kassel the Brothers Grimm lived for over thirty years, working as librarians at the Electoral Library, known now as the Fridericanum, Europe’s first public museum, which today is the centre of the documenta exhibitions. Within the beautiful UNESCO Bergpark Wilhelmshoehe there is the Lion’s Castle, built in the years 1793-1806, it resembles the ruin of a medieval English knight’s castle.  Take an excursion to the Hercules monument, Kassel´s landmark, from here you have magnificent view over the city.  In 1830, Jacob Grimm said: “The years I spent in Kassel were the happiest of my life”, a day spent here will show you why!

In the morning take a train to Hannoversch-Munden. Start your tour in the Old Town with its more than 700 half-timbered houses. In front of the scenic Town Hall you find the “Doctor Eisenbart Play”. Daily at noon, 3pm and 5pm the carillon played the Song of Doctor Eisenbart.

In the late afternoon take a train to Goettingen, where the Brothers Grimm lived after they moved away from Kassel. Your may deposit your luggage again at the lockers at the station. The city is famous for its University, which was founded in 1734. Among those teaching here as professors where the Brothers Grimm. Goettingen’s Old Town, surrounded by the city wall, is well preserved and restored. The town’s landmark is the Gaenseliesel, a statue of a little girl that tends the geese. The Art Nouveau figure stands on the fountain in front of the old Town Hall, and although she resembles but a poor maiden she is ‘the world’s most kissed girl’, because all students who earned their doctor’s degree kiss her bronze cheek.

In the evening travel on to Bremen where your hotel is located in short walking distance to Bremen Central Station.

Today you go on a day trip (by rail) to Bremerhaven, a town on the bank of the North Sea. Worth seeing is the maritime resort called “The Harbor Worlds” (Hafenwelten Bremerhaven). It is placed right at the River Weser. You can find there: the German Emigration Center, the Zoo at the Sea, the German Maritime Museum, the submarine “Wilhelm Bauer” and the Historical Museum Bremerhaven. Take your time to walk around before you take a train back to Bremen.

Your rail tickets from Bremerhaven back to Bremen are flexible so you have a wide choice of trains you can take. We recommend to maybe travel back in the late afternoon to make sure you have enough time for sightseeing in the beautiful town of Bremen itself.  The city’s Town Hall with its Renaissance architecture is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with the statue of the “Roland” located on the marketplace along with the famous bronze display of the Bremen Town Musicians.

Then there is the “Muehle am Wall“(mill) which is the last mill left out of originally eight which were once built on the wall of the inner city. The mill was used up until 1950, today it is used as a café. Visit the “Schnorr“, the towns oldest living quarters, and do not miss “Boettcherstrasse”, Bremen’s “secret main road”. Make sure to visit a traditional hanseatic restaurant in Bremen for dinner!

In about two hours the train will take you to Hamelin. Your hotel is located in walking distance from Hamelin rail station. Who is responsible for the towns fame? Of course the “Rattenfänger von Hameln””, the “Pied Piper of Hamelin“! For centuries now, the “Pied Piper” has been the town’s landmark, quite often especially during the summer there are open air plays showing the somewhat sad story of the loss of Hamelin´s children.

Visit Hamelin’s beautifully restored Old Town, which is also quite unique as the historic Old Town is still to be seen almost uninterrupted by modern buildings on the main roads. There are a great number of historic stone- and timber-framed-buildings to be seen, many of them build in Renaissance style, such as the “Rattenfängerhaus” (Piet Piper house), the “Dempterhaus” and the “Hochzeitshaus” (wedding-house). The Glaserlebniswelt (Glass Adventure World) of the Glassworks Hameln was created in the historic Pulverturm (Powder Tower). In the lobby, you get information on the 6,000-year-old history of glass as work material. Here you are at the heart of the Glass Adventure World – the glassworks and glass engraving shop where you can watch the glassblowers at work every day.

If you have seen something in Frankfurt you would like to take a closer look at: today is your chance to do so! You can also take a later train back to Frankfurt, allowing some more time for sightseeing in Hamelin. Accommodation in Frankfurt will once again be in walking distance from Frankfurt Central Station.

Today you take the train for a very short train ride from Frankfurt Central Station right into the terminal of Frankfurt International Airport. You have a wide variety of trains going during the day and you may take a train at your convenience. The train ride takes about 11 Minutes.